A couple of ideas...SM

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I picked up an exercise bike at a yard sale for $1 and a mini trampoline for $5.  Whenever I need a break to recharge, I get on the bike or trampoline for 5-10 minutes.  They say that little spurts of exercise throughout the day are as effective as exercising all at once.  Plus, it'll help clear your lungs out.  Another thing to try is to just step outside for a moment and take some really deep breaths of fresh air in.  You used to inhale deeply with smoking, so now you inhale deeply without the carcinogens.  You can also try yoga or tai chi.  Very calming on the nerves.  I also switched to herbal tea, so I'll take a break and fill up my little teapot for one.  Replace your bad habit with a good habit.  Just don't replace smoking with eating.  If you need the hand to mouth thing, try air popped popcorn, cut up fruit or vegetables, a small amount of nuts or seeds, or hot peppers.  I keep a jar of Bit o' Honey and fireball candies on my desk, so I'll have one of those a day.

It's important to reward yourself, so take the money you would ordinarily have spent on cigarettes and get something for yourself.  I like to buy books, bubble bath, stinky candles, mocha lattes, restaurant gift certificates.  You can also put the money you're saving into a big jar to watch it add up for a BIG reward.  I saved enough to buy a dishwasher, which is kind of silly for a reward, but I really wanted one.

Number one was psychology, but that will take too long, going part time, and knowing in the next five years MT'ing might not exist.  You need a bachelor's to get foot in the door.  I wish they had schooling completely on line for this degree, but they do not. 

Second is something with cooking.  Would like to work with people on diet and weight loss, since it is the way i've lived my own life for years and I believe strongly in it.  The chef/cook field is predominantly male, so it will be hard to get a foot in the door there.  I can be a certified dietician all on line within a year, but the pay isn't all that good.

Ultimate goal would be a personal chef or working for myself doing SOMETHING.  I think thats everyones dream.

My daughter LOVES trains, and you can find scenic train trips all over.  We did one in Romney, WV that was just wonderful.  The train was called Potomoc Eagle, and we did see bald eagles on our trip. 

Not sure where you are in WV, but what about Hershey, PA?  Probably not the cheapest vacation, but lots to do.  Besides HersheyPark itself (very kid friendly) there is a zoo, a garden and more.  I'm sure there are packages available.  

I'm anxious to see what others come up with too.  We are in PA and looking for some close trips as well.  Which beach do you go to?  We found a beautiful not-so-commercial beach at Lewes, DE last year and can't wait to go back!

Good luck with your planning!   

First, sorry about the funny way my answer is formatted below, I'm no good in this little box.

Are you dialing into a Lanier system?  LX-219 and other Lanier equipment only works with Lanier. 

 Ranzy Luster in Texas fixed my LX-219 with large display for a flat rate of $100, gave a 90-day warrantee with the repair.  He sometimes advertises on the MT Daily site.  He has been around a long time.  His phone number is 254-235-3241 and his e-mail is rluster@transcribe solutions.com.  I felt he treated me very well and he was fast.  I should say if the large display is not working, I don't believe he works on that, but if you can see anything in the large display, I believe he will work on it.  Ask him.

Look in your User Guide for the LX-219 and try performing the call-echo-cancel sequence.  If you are calling into a Lanier system, then it is not recognizing your machine.  Lanier machines send a proprietary tone in to connect with the host modem. 

Sometimes the phone is set for dictate instead of transcribe.  You can try this: Press  *99 (that's star-99) then the 1 key

If set for transcription it will say 20 through 39. 

My old Lanier service tech said he always used 20 as his default when setting machines for transcription mode. 

When you dial into Lanier, the LX-219 must be programmed with YOUR ID number.  So, program one key with the number you are dialing, then another key with your ID. 

You can test how this works by dialing the phone manually, touching all the buttons just like the regular phone, then input your ID number, the system should recognize you. 

I haven't used my LX-219 machines in a long time, I use a Lanier TXC card to download large amounts of dictation to a sound card in my computer, but the above were some hints I wrote for myself in the handbook for the LX-219 a couple of years ago. 

Is your C-phone located near any other equipment?  That can cause static.  Move it away by itself. 

I hope something here helps.  Give Ranzy a try.  He might have some suggestions for you. 

Sorry, this is kind of long, but I would appreciate any advice/comments.

Back in May I was contacted by someone to whom I had sent my resume several months prior.  She asked if I would be interested in some part-time work, and I said that I was.  She had no idea how much or what time of day, etc. 

Well, it turned out to be quite a bit of work, and I wound up calling her and letting her know that it was too much, as she would ride me about turnaround time when I had let her know that I already had almost full-time work prior to accepting her part-time deal.  She did have another girl working on the account, but her work needed to be edited (fully to voice), and she asked that I hang in there while she found someone else, which I did, and she went through about three other girls.  During this time she would hit me with sometimes 2+ hours of dictation out of the blue, and there would be many days with nothing at all.  I had actually been hoping to still get daily work, but just a reduced amount from what it had been, and was still hoping that is how it would go once she was able to find someone else to share the load. 

Anyway, about a week ago I received an e-mail from her that she no longer had the account, and here is where my question comes in . . . I really liked doing this dictation, and am interested in trying to obtain the account for myself, but they are in a different state from me.  Since she has lost the account, I do not feel that it would be stealing, but obviously they must have had a replacement transcriptionist/service prior to telling her they would no longer need her services, so I am wondering how long I should wait and what approach I should take . . . should I call them, or perhaps mail something, or even call and try to get an e-mail address???  I was not told what the reason is that they no longer use her services either, by the way, and as far as having said what I did about it being too much work, I would give up something else to have this account if I could get it, but at the time I told her it was too much I had not decided that.  I had been considering proposing just that to her, for a negotiated higher wage, but then she lost the account. 

What would you guys do?

TIA for opinions/ideas!

Hi,

I assume you are using Windows 2000 or XP.

I would disable "system sounds" in using the control panel. It is possible system sounds are interfering with your program or causing problems.

If that does not work then...

Next time the problem happens, right click "My Computer", and select "Manage".

Double click "Device Manager".

Find your sound card driver under "Sounds and Video Game Controllers"...there will be several items there, but you are looking for a "controller" of some kind...It should match the name of you audio device. When you have found it, right click and "disable". Then "enable". If the problem goes away, it is probably a driver issue...if not then it might be something as simple as the volume control turned all the way down.

If it is a driver issue (that is if disable and enable make it work) then you should try to find an updated driver.

Good luck...

TIA

We lost a newborn.  I know it is 100 times worse for an older child, but I appreciated all the things people did for me.  Our neighbor came over that morning without being asked, while I was still in the hospital, and mowed our lawn before people started coming by. Other friends brought some meals.  I most appreciated visits from friends.  I was still on maternity leave with no baby to take care of. 

This may be a little late as it takes some planning, but my great niece was in an "American Girl" (the popular dolls) Fashion show which raised close to 40,000 for a child who passed 2 years ago from brain cancer and this benefit went to the fund the parents kept up for research.

The American Girl company coordinates it, has a whole package thing and the girls modeling are dressed just like the American Girl doll they carry...it was the cutest thing and well worth the money for the ticket.

At one party for my daughter, I wrapped up a small, age-appropriate gift in several (maybe 5-7, I don't remember) layers of wrapping paper.  Then the girls sat in a circle and passed the present around to music.  When the music stopped, whoever was holding the gift got to remove 1 layer of paper.  The one who took of the last layer of paper, got the gift.

Also, our youth group had a balloon tower contest.  Each team had a bunch of balloons and several rolls of clear tape.  Then they had 10 minutes to blow up the balloons and build a tower using the tape.  Whoever built the biggest tower won.  Of course, we had some older kids in the youth group.  Younger kids might have trouble tying the balloons. 

I've looked into other things I could do as a sidestep from transcription, like editor, or biller, there are tons of ads for billers and coders.  I'd need more schooling.  As far as support from family, thats great that yours admire you.  Mine is just really judgemental and have always thought I never lived up to my potential.  I've always been content though.  Being an MT allows me my independence which is the most important thing to me.

I found some very helpful and uplifting at the same time. 

I spent the last 2 days crying off an on and was afraid I was going to need the ER myself. Then I told myself it can't happen right now to cease and desist.

Today, I spent the afternoon on the phone with the insurance company that handles our disability insurance. They had sent a check  but we were expecting triple the amount. That would have gotten us over the hump. They, ha-ha, only pay for 2 times the amount of days spent in the hospital as disability, not the full 2 months he was off, and they ripped us off on the ICU pay and the ER pay. They were supposed to pay for those stays, too.

I work 2 jobs now, 1 employee status, 1 IC, plus a single doctor locally as IC.  As for health insurance, the employer's health insurance was more expensive than what I have and really didn't cover anymore than what I had...anyway, they wouldn't have paid 1 cent as it would have been less than a year, if they would have covered him at all.

Then I saw it...a life insurance policy that I've had on hubby for 12 years. It's only for $20,000 but I cashed it in today. I hated to do it as it was a cheap policy, but I do have other policies on him that total $170,000, so this one is no big deal. The cash from that may just get us over the hump.

I will call the mortgage company at our local friendly bank. We only have 4 years on our mortgage so I don't see a problem there...but I could be wrong as usual. The 2nd mortage is only $247 a month. I might be able to scrap that up if I work harder and longer.

We did have savings equal to 3 months salary but it's all eaten up by the end of this month. But, hubby did feel good enough that he loaded up a bunch of scrap metal over the weekend and he got decent money for it. Plus he sold a little tag along trailer he had so at least we have some money for essentials like food for us and the cat and dog for a week or two.

As for selling "one of the trucks", no can do. One is a pickup that he needs to get his truck parts for his dump truck and my car can't be sold. The frame is so rusted  it won't pass inspection this September. It's a '92 so wouldn't get anything for it anyway. BTW, we never financed a car or pickup. Always paid cash for them.

We made it before back in the '70s when neither of us had a job and I'm trying to remember that experience and what we did then....oh, I remember. We didn't claim bankruptcy but sold everything we owned because we were only $11 above the income level for Medicaid and help from welfare unless they could put a lien on our house.

Then we started all over. I guess we can do it again, but these hospital and doctor bills really make me sick, especially since the doctors told him not to worry about it...that everything was taken care of...yeah, right.

Thanks again for all your support and ideas. I think I might be able to think of a few things IF I don't have to be on the phone with the doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, etc., every day like I do now. How frustrating.

I need some help figuring out a neat gift idea for our veterinary staff.  You guys always have some GREAT ideas !!!

We have had some significant problems with both our "mom" and the 8 puppies we have left, having lost 3.  The staff at our vet hospital has just been absolutely wonderful.  This is a new vet hospital for us.  Our old vet and staff were... well... let's just say less than caring or concerned about our animals. 

We'd like a way to say thanks in a different and unique way, other than the traditional fruit/snack basket, and this is just not my strong suit.  We feel that plenty of people will complain about bad service, but sometimes we forget to reward the great service or the extra effort, and this vet hospital has done that and more. 

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.  TIA....